From Trampoline to Inside the Ring, Tyler Tinker is Ready to Rumble

January 17, 2013

Tyler Sexton, making his way to the ring for an ETWA match. Photo Matt Tinker

By

Mike Olmstead, Sports Editor

Tyler Tinker is like many recent college graduates, he is looking to move on, find gainful employment and begin the next phase of his life.
Tyler wrapped up his collegiate career, for now, as he says he may pursue a masters degree at a later date, and will be heading to Florida to see if he can make his professional dreams come true.
Only he will not be going there just with a degree the exercise sciences, oh no.
He will be going there to make his mark in the world of professional wrestling, for you see it is not just Tyler Tinker that is making the 1,500 mile journey south.
So is Tyler Sexton, Tinker's wrestling persona and the alter ego he assumes when he steps into the squared circle.
Tinker first remembers getting into wrestling as a youngster, watching the NWO during the heyday of the Monday Night Wars.
For those not familiar with the Monday Night Wars, during the late 1990's wrestling went through a renascence period, when WCW and then WWF, now WWE, went head-to-head every Monday in a quest for rating supremacy and fan loyalty.
"My earliest member I can think of is when the New World Order just started happening, and I remember seeing Kevin Nash throw Rey Mysterio against the outside of the production truck and the announcers saying 'He just threw him like a dart,' and every since then I had to watch it," said Tinker when we sat down to discuss wrestling and his future in it.
His father Matt remembers watching the shows with his son from an early age.
"I was watching either WCW of WWE and he comes stumbling in the room at three years old, and the running joke we had was that it was called 'Booms and Uh-oh's' because guys were falling down, 'Boom,' and some one inevitably got hurt and that was 'Uh-oh,' so from three to five it was Booms and Uh-oh's in our house."
With wrestling being appointment viewing in the Tinker house, Tyler was soon exposed to two brothers who competed for Vince McMahon's WWE, The Hardys, Jeff and Matt.
The duo, Jeff in particular, would inspire Tyler to take the next step in his progression; Active participation.
Said Tyler, "They were a popular young tag-team and I got their book for Christmas. I read that they had started out on a trampoline, and I had been on trampolines before.
â€śSoon after getting the book I received a tramp and I started practicing high flying moves and all of that stuff."
The trampoline would evolve with the additions of posts and ring ropes made of garden hose, just like the Hardy boys had done.
Said Matt, "It was always something he wanted to do, and during the summer he was out there, literally with no exaggeration, six or seven hours a day."
The time spent bouncing through the air just fueled the fire, and now it was time to learn wrestling 101, so at the age of 17 he took his first bump (a wrestling fall) at the industry renowned wrestling academy run by the legendary Killer Kowalski in Massachusetts, The New England Pro Wrestling Academy.
"I went there on a one-day fantasy camp and they had beginners there who were taught how to run the ropes properly, take a bump and lock up," Tyler said. "That was the first time I ever got physical in a ring."
"I think that first time he went to the day camp at Chaotic (the old name of the NEPWA) really drove it home that this was something that was possible, not just something that a kid from northern Vermont dreams about and watches other people do," said the elder Tinker.
From there the fire inside would burn harder and Tyler would return to the Academy for multiple day camps to work on his skills, and eventually he would work his first match for the ETWA, or Eastern Township Wrestling Association.
"One of my friends had started wrestling for them and I had been to some of their matches, so I went there one day, it was September 10th, 2010, just to kind of check it out," Tinker remembers. "They had me go in the ring to check me out and they saw that I could I bump and was pretty agile in the ring, and they said that if I wanted a match I could have the first one of the show.
"I had five to six minutes for the match, and I had shown up there with not the most professional attire, some baggy blue soccer shorts, some soccer shin guards and some soccer socks that I used to wrestle with on the trampoline, so my kick pads were a little harder then most peoples.
"I had my match, and I will tell you it was pretty nerve-racking."
Tyler would do the J-O-B, or in layman's terms, lose, but he had his first pro match under his belt.
ETWA gave Tinker the platform to promote himself, something that he thankful to this day for.
Yes we all know wrestling is scripted, but as far as match preparation, the opponents usually get together before the match and lay out what they want to do.
Tinker prefers to call most of the match on the fly, with a few spots worked out before hand.
"I like to start with a solid finish and work backwards from there, implementing the psychology of the match. I like to have three solid bullet points that I want to hit to show the crowd what I can do. But all the filler, that is just improv."
Tinker prefers to work as the heel, or bad guy, which allows him more creative freedom and the heel traditionally is the one who calls the match in the ring.
"I like being the heel because I consider myself a pretty good guy in real life, and when I am in the ring it is a chance to be a 'bad guy' and boo the fans back, give a little attitude and get the reaction from the crowd."
With twenty-plus matches under his belt, Tinker will go the nation's hot bed of wrestling, Florida, in the first week of February to see what he can do at the next level.
Florida is home to some of the more well known independent wrestling organizations, and the number two ranked national promotion, TNA or Total Non-stop Action.
In fact, as we reported last fall, Tinker has already worked out for TNA, traveling to St. Louis to attend their Gut-Check camp.
At the camp, he performed in front of TNA trainer, and former WWE Superstar D-Lo Brown.
Now in the sunshine state, he will get a chance to work with a higher level of talent, and maybe get back inside a TNA, Ring of Honor, or even a WWE ring in the future.
"I had been thinking about where I wanted to move and I chose Florida because it fit all my needs, especially with wrestling being the holy grail," he said.
When asked who he wanted thank for their support, there was only one answer.
"My Dad. He has been to every match but one and has been my photographer, my videographer, my barber... He helps critique all my matches and made the trip out to the TNA Gut-check financially possible.
â€śSo he is obviously the number one guy in my wrestling career."
I asked him a couple of wrestling favorite questions, and here is what he had to say.
Best Wrestler Today? CM Punk
Best Talker? CM Punk
Favorite Wrestler? Jeff Hardy
Greatest Heels of all time or working today? CM Punk and Ric Flair and Diamond Dallas Page.
Most Memorable Event Attended? The RAW in Montreal after Wrestlemania 18.
Best Product Going Today? WWE.
Which Organization Would Have the Best Fit for Tyler Sexton? Ring of Honor, but with guys like Punk and Daniel Bryant coming in, the WWE is more optimistic than before.
Favorite Feuds of All Time? A tie between the Rock and Austin and the Tag-team division in the WWE in the Attitude Era, including the TLC matches.
Three Favorite Matches? TLC 2 between the Hardys, Edge and Christian, and the Dudleys, Brock Lesner VS Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania 19 and the Young Bucks against the Motor City Machine Guns and TNA's Bound For Glory.
Favorite Wrestling Autobiography? Kurt Angle's It's True, It's True
Japan or Mexico, Where Would You Prefer to Go Wrestle? Japan.
If you are interested in checking out some of Tyler's matches, go to You Tube and type in Tyler Sexton Wrestling and enjoy the show.
Hopefully in a few years, when you are sitting down on a Monday night, tuned into the RAW broadcast, you will hear the ring announcer say the following:
"This match is one-fall and is for the WWE Championship. First, the challenger, from Hollywood Florida, weighing in at 180 pounds, Tyler Sexton."